When Matthew McConaughey’s mother slammed him

Matthew McConaughey, 47, said that his mother slammed him to the ground when he was in kindergarten.

McConaughey was raised along with his two brothers in Texasby his mother Mary, a kindergarten teacher and an author, and his late father James.

“She’s 84, but she’s still spry,” McConaughey said during an interview. McConaughey to this day will not answer to abbreviations of his Christian name, like ‘Matt’ or ‘Matty’, due to an incident at kindergarten when his mother, who was also his teacher, admonished him for answering to a nickname.

“I answered to Matt one time when I was in kindergarten, when my mum was my teacher. My buddy goes, ‘Hey Matt! Wanna play on the monkey bars?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and ran to the monkey bars… and next thing I know I feel a hand on my shoulder pull me back and body-slam me to the ground — and it was my mother.”

“She says to me, ‘What’s your name?’ and I said, ‘Matthew…’ and she goes, ‘Why did you answer to Matt?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, I knew he was talking to me!’ Then she said ‘Don’t you ever answer to that again — I named you Matthew on purpose.’ So if anyone calls me ‘Matt’, I know they either don’t know me well or they’re jacking with me,” he added.

The ‘Sing’ star has three children, Levi, 8, Vida, 6, and Livingston, 3, with his wife Camila Alves.